Category: Garden

Posts about gardening and related topics, such as canning and maybe other aspects of food preservation.

Post G23-052: I dried my underwear in my food dehydrator.

 

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “Hey, dummy, that’s what the microwave is for.”

And while I acknowledge the truthiness of that statement, my excuse is that I baked my briefs in this manner for Science.

This post focuses on a seemingly simple question:  Why is an electric food dehydrator such an incredibly energy-intensive way to preserve food?

The answer is unsatisfying.  In roughly equal parts:

  • Evaporating water is energy-intensive
  • Evaporation water out of food is even more so.
  • My particular dehydrator is somewhat inefficient.

My bottom line is that drying a pound of wet produce, in my electric dryer, under optimal conditions, takes about 2 kilowatt-hours of electricity.  And there ain’t much I can do about that, other than coming up with a solar dryer that will function in my climate.  My first attempt at that turned out mediocre (Post G22-015).

Continue reading Post G23-052: I dried my underwear in my food dehydrator.

Post G23-051: Gardening, the home stretch 2023.

 

The summer of 2023 is drawing to a close.  They days are getting noticeably shorter.  The kids are back in school.

Good riddance.  In part, that’s because it’s been a mediocre gardening year for me.  But mostly, that’s because I can recall a time when reading the weather report didn’t routinely scare the crap out of me. Continue reading Post G23-051: Gardening, the home stretch 2023.

Post G23-050: Marigolds, beautiful but deadly

 

You will come across gardening advice suggesting that marigolds are an excellent companion planting for your vegetables.  They … something something something … and bad bugs begone.  Plus, they attract pollinators.  And they’re pretty, to boot.

What’s not to like? Continue reading Post G23-050: Marigolds, beautiful but deadly

Post G23-049: Harvesting a mess of okra a day requires a lot of okra plants

End-of-season edit:  I did, finally, get an excellent yield out of Jambalaya okra.  Toward the end of August/early September, productivity picked up.  I had a string of days on which I collected my mess of okra (defined below) per day.  In that light, I’ll revise this to say that 24 high-productivity okra plants is enough to give you a mess of okra per day, for a couple of peak weeks in the okra season.  It’s not nearly enough to yield that, on average, for the entire season.

That said, I could not be more pleased with Jambalaya okra, compared to other varieties I have tried.

Original post follows.

My goal is to grow “a mess” of okra a day, defined as enough to be worth frying up as a side-dish for two.  My wife guesstimates that as 24 tender okra pods.

How many okra plants must I grow, to yield a mess a day? 

More than 24, that’s all I know for sure.  That’s what I have producing right now, and I’m nowhere near my goal.

Answer:  Like onto 75.  Or roughly 150 square feet of okra.  Near as I can figure. Continue reading Post G23-049: Harvesting a mess of okra a day requires a lot of okra plants

G23-048: Uncooked mustard. Handle with care.

 

About mustard, the condiment, I know nothing.  I follow recipes.

I’ve now tried making two batches of mustard, from seed I harvested a little earlier this year.  You can look at recent prior posts to see how I went about harvesting, threshing, and winnowing the mustard seeds.

Continue reading G23-048: Uncooked mustard. Handle with care.

Post G23-046: Winnowing seed and making mustard

Bottom line:  A weak little computer fan is just right for winnowing mustard seed.  Optionally, roll the seeds down a tray to separate out the last little bits of chaff.

After cleaning some mustard seed in that fashion, I ground it in a cheap spice/coffee grinder, then used a recipe that promised to produce something like French’s yellow mustard.

I achieved neither the color nor the consistency of French’s.  But I think it’s recognizably mustard.

I’ll need to wait a few days for the taste test.

At the very least, this went a lot better than last year.  A box fan is way too large, and way to strong, for winnowing tiny mustard seeds.

Details follow.  See also:

Post G23-043: Threshing mustard by combing it.

Continue reading Post G23-046: Winnowing seed and making mustard

Post G23-043: Threshing mustard by combing it.

 

I threshed and rough-cleaned my first batch of mustard today.  Took about an hour.  Yield was poor.  Worse, the seeds look like last year — a mix of yellow mature seed and green/black immature seed.

Not clear what I’m going to do next, but I can endorse one method for threshing a stack of dried mustard plants reasonably efficiently:  Comb them to break open the seed pods. Continue reading Post G23-043: Threshing mustard by combing it.